Disclosed in Japanese Patent Applications published as KOKOKU Nos. 46-33107, 46-33108 and 46-33109 are continuous transportation apparatuses which are arranged as follows: When one step traveling on a first stroke track reaches the terminal end of the track, the step is disengaged from this stroke track and transported toward the starting end of a second stroke track which extends parallel to the first stroke track. Then, the transferred step is set on the second stroke track, and travels on the second stroke track in the direction opposite to the direction of the travel on the first stroke track. These apparatuses are designed so that the direction of the step itself cannot be changed during the travel of the step on the first and second stroke tracks.
As described above, however, all these conventional continuous transportation apparatuses are constructed in a manner such that steps are allowed to travel one by one on the stroke track, and the steps at the terminal end of the first stroke track are transferred one by one from this stroke track to the starting end of the second stroke track via a curved connecting track.
Incidentally, a large-sized object, such as a wheelchair, cannot be carried by means of only one step, requiring use of a plurality of continuous steps, e.g., three in number, adjoining in front and in rear. In the aforementioned conventional continuous transportation apparatuses, however, each three adjacent steps on the first and second stroke tracks are oriented oppositely in the vertical direction, with the result that such a mechanism for loading a wheelchair cannot be incorporated into the above transportation apparatus for inappropriateness in order of step arrangement.